Small Hearts
by CassieReaganMoore
Summary: Allie, Hannah, and Kaylin are just camping when something very strange happens: they disappear! Separated, the three carry on with life as best as they can, and much madness and chaos is the result. Will not be romance until later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: So. In the last few weeks I have read exactly six stories with rather depressing ends, one of them being my own. And I realized that depressing stories make people depressed, hence my sitting here on the couch at 11:30 reading anything humorous and light hearted that I can. That involves some Mark Twain and some of my early stuff that has yet to be released to the public and probably never shall be. But the point is that… well, there is no point. It's to say that I am starting this story, and I've tried within an inch of my life to make it as Un-Mary-Suish as I can. In its earliest phases it was a tenth walker story with lots of running away, pants-wearing, and Legomancing. Now, however, Legolas is hardly in it, we all wear dresses, and we only run away once. So HA! Anyways. Read it, love it, review it, but DO NOT FLAME ME. I will use them to toast marshmallows. Although I think I could just go outside and do that anyways, it's already 80 degrees here, and it's January. Whatever. Just read.

ZXCVBNM

"I hate school." Kaylin Silvano plopped down rather ungracefully at the breakfast table, a mug of coffee in one hand and Sarah Dessen's latest in the other.

"Have you put that book down yet?" Allie Holling, Kaylin's roommate and one half of the duo that made up her best friends, sat down at the chair across from Kaylin and stared at the back of Kaylin's book.

"Um…" Kaylin thought for a second, then shook her head. "Actually, no." When Allie laughed, Kaylin held up her hands in protest. "I think it's good!"

"Kaylin, you think _every_ book is good." Allie pointed out, joining Kaylin at the table. She paused for a moment. Then, "You read too much!"

"I do not!" Kaylin protested.

When Allie reached for her book, Kaylin jerked it away. A brief scuffle ensued, before a sudden, high-pitched yelp came from the bathroom down the hall, followed by a string of curses that made Allie roll her eyes. "I don't understand why Hannah is the only one who ever has problems with that shower. The rest of us get along just fine."

Kaylin hmphed and rolled her eyes. "I don't. This morning I had to turn it off for ten minutes before it would let me have hot water." She informed Allie, turning the page. "Ugh. I only have one more final before I can go HOME!"

"Yeah, why aren't you studying?" Allie asked, looking at the back cover of _Just Listen_.

"It's _Dance_. I don't have to study for _Dance_. All I have to do is get up, perform the dance I choreographed myself, and then I go get on a plane and fly home!"

"I love Christmas."

"Yeah, yeah." Kaylin sighed. "Ugh. See, now you've gone and made me nervous."

Allie laughed when Hannah yelped again as the water temperature changed without warning.

"You know what?" Kaylin asked, suddenly snapping her book shut. "I think this house is _haunted_."

"No, it's just old." Allie replied, stirring some sugar into her black coffee. "The pipes are rusty and can't tell the difference between hot and cold water, and that makes us very unhappy in the mornings."

"Yeah it does." Kaylin stood up, leaving her book on the table. "I'm all packed. You?"

"Of course not. What fun would that be?" Allie laughed. "Everyone knows I'm the most disorganized of the group."

Kaylin sighed. "Okay. I'm going to go get out of my pajamas. I feel old."

Allie frowned. "What does wearing pajamas and feeling old have to do with anything?"

"It just… does." Kaylin sighed. "It's Kaylin logic. Don't ask or think. Just accept the beauty that is chaos."

"You got that from Sarah Dessen!" Allie cried, waving _Just Listen_ as an example. "It's in… _The Truth About Forever_, right?"

"Wrong! This Lullaby! And Just Listen." Hannah walked into the room, one towel wrapped around her torso and another around her head. "Owen says 'Don't ask or think' and Dexter says 'Just accept the beauty that is chaos'. The last one involves French fries and a console. Poor Remy… I'm glad you let us eat in your car."

"Right." Kaylin flashed the girls her famous grin.

"Right." Allie sighed. "Okay. Let's get dressed."

"Why? It's only eight. My exam doesn't start until noon. The plane doesn't leave until eight tonight. It's not like there's much to do." Kaylin asked, leaning against the doorframe and opening her book again.

"We can get dressed and go to IHOP!" Allie suggested.

"No." Hannah shook her head, sending water drops flying everywhere. "The last time I ate at IHOP I was sick for a week. I missed three physics classes and two chem classes. There is no way I'm going to IHOP for breakfast."

"Jeez." Allie rolled her eyes. "You don't even _eat_ breakfast anyways."

"Yes I do. I had two glasses of orange juice this morning." Hannah replied in a thank-you-very-much tone of voice.

"God. If you get any skinnier you're going to shrivel up and blow away." Kaylin sighed. "Right. I'm going to IHOP, then. Anyone else want to come?"

"Yeah, I'll go, I guess." Hannah sighed. "What?" She asked sharply at the rather amused look she received from Kaylin.

"I second that." Allie grinned.

"Okay." Kaylin grabbed her book from the table. "Be ready in ten minutes, mmkay?"

"Okay." The other two girls chorused.

ZXCVBNM

"Quiz me."

"What?"

"Quiz me!" Hannah repeated, thrusting flash cards with various Trig equations written on them at Allie.

"Dude, I'm eating. Make Kaylin quiz you."

Kaylin made a noise of protest and waved her fork at Allie. "I'm eating too!" She said, around a mouthful of hash browns. "Quiz yourself." She said, taking another bite of hash browns.

"I can't. I cheat." Hannah said drily. "Come on. Someone help the stupid girl."

"You're not stupid. Just… less smart." Allie joked.

"Hence my being in trig while you're taking geometry again."

"She's just jealous because you have better grades." Kaylin giggled. "And better boobs."

"Oh, my God. We are NOT talking about boobs at IHOP!" Allie glared at Kaylin. "And fine. Gimme the damn flash cards. I'll quiz you, oh brilliant one!"

"Thank you, Allie!"

Allie sighed and grudgingly took the stack of notecards from Hannah. "Okay. Ummm… What is the area of an arbitrary triangle?" She paused. "And what the hell _is_ an arbitrary triangle?"

Hannah frowned. "A equals one-half a b sin C."

"Do what, now?" Kaylin asked, frowning. "Gah. My brain hurts."

"What is the Law of Cosines?"

"Erm…" Hannah squinted her eyes shut and looked up at the ceiling like she could find the answer somewhere in the rafters. "Right. A squared equals b squared plus c squared minus two times b times c cosine A."

"Gaah. My brain hurts." Kaylin whined, placing her hands over her ears in a hear-no-evil fashion.

"Oh, shut up." Allie playfully stuck her tongue out at Kaylin. "Cosecant definition for a right triangle."

"Uhhh…" Hannah racked her brain. "Ha! Cosecant theta equals hypotenuse over opposite side."

"Why do you need to know this stuff?" Allie asked, looking in confusion from the front of the card to the back with a dismayed expression on her face. "It's ridiculous. And confusing. And stupid. And did I mention boring?"

"Yeah, you don't have to sit through a class on it every single week. It's stupid. I hate it. But I need it for my major."

"Like I have to take Biology even though I'm a journalism major?" Allie asked, raising her eyebrows and grabbing a card off of the stack.

"Well, that's different. You have to be able to know what you write about."

"Yes, but you don't have to know what the intestinal workings of a flatworm are to write!"

Kaylin rolled her eyes and took the flashcard away from Allie. "Point taken. Double Angle Identity." Kaylin stared at the notecard for a second, then frowned. "And then dash sine. Whatever the hell that means."

"Cosine times two theta equals cosine squared theta minus sine squared theta equals two cosine squared theta minus one."

"Wrong!" It's sine times two theta equals two sine theta cosine theta."

"Whatever! I was close enough!"

Allie and Kaylin giggled. "Whatever you say, Hannah." Kaylin agreed, taking a bite of her waffle so she couldn't reply to Hannah's glare.

ZXCVBNM

"I cannot _wait_ for this semester to be over!" Kaylin loudly announced, throwing her purse onto the bed and stalking to the closet. She threw the doors open and began picking shirts off of their hangers, throwing them onto her bed. Every once in a while she'd find a short sleeved shirt, shake her head, and toss it on the bottom of the closet.

"I know it." Allie agreed. She picked up one of the numerous books from the ever-present stack by Kaylin's bed and sighed. "Man, I've read this one before!"

"You've read _all _of my books!" Kaylin frowned. "You really should buy your own, you know."

"Nah. It's cheaper to borrow yours." Allie picked up a pair of socks from her side of the bed and tossed them into the open suitcase on the floor. "Hey, have you packed your dress yet?"

"No! I should probably do that, huh?" Kaylin back walked to the closet and yanked a dress off a hanger. It was long and flowing and looked somewhat… Elvish. "I can't wait for this semester to be over!"

"We know! You've already told us a thousand times!" Hannah waltzed into the room, one large suitcase trailing behind her. Kaylin and Allie stared at her rather incredulously. "What?" She asked, leaning the suitcase against the wall (it was a bit top heavy and thus had a tendency to topple over). "I'm done. I can't help it if I'm organized!"

"Too organized." Allie muttered. "You're the only college person I know who can make flashcards and keep a straight room."

"Everyone can _do_ that." Kaylin sighed, trying (rather unsuccessfully) to wedge one last pair of socks into her bag. "It's just that most people don't." The socks went in. "Okay. Now the task is to _close_ the bag." With the Kaylin method of packing, this was no small feat. "What is _with_ this bag? _What_ is with this bag?" Kaylin let out a frustrated scream. "Allie, go sit on my bag so I can zip it."

"Um, no." Allie pointed at Hannah. "Make her go instead. The last time I did that you zipped my favorite pants in with it and I had to cut them off!"

"Well, it's not _my_ fault that your leg got in the way of the zipper!"

"That happens when you sit on a suitcase that is being zipped! You should have been more careful!" Allie cried in exasperation. "Jeez. Hannah, you go sit on it."

Hannah rolled her eyes. "Fine."

She was almost to the suitcase when Kaylin looked at the clock, swore, and grabbed her purse from the bed. "Crud! I gotta go!" She cried, throwing on a pair of flip flops and rushing out the door. "I'm late!"

"Kaylin worries too much." Allie said, to no one in particular, as the door slammed shut.

"I couldn't agree with you more."

ZXCVBNM

Thirty minutes later, Hannah was sitting in the den on the couch, watching TV. When Allie walked into the room, she saw what was on. "Mythbusters." She groaned. "Great." Allie eyed Hannah, who was crocheting something. "What are you making?"

Hannah frowned at her, trying to listen to Adam and Jamie as they talked about whether or not it was possible for a toilet to explode. "Shoes." She replied.

"Shoes." Allie repeated, staring at Hannah incredulously.

"Shoes. Well, one shoe, actually. It's Kaylin's Christmas present."

"What good's one shoe going to do for her?"

"The other one's in my bedroom. You can go see it if you like."

"And I would want to do that because…"

"Because it's pretty!" Hannah exclaimed, waving the crochet needle at her friend. "Honestly. Do I have to teach you everything?"

Allie thought for a minute. "Pretty much, yeah. But she'll wear them camping and I'll see them then, so what's the big deal?"

"I told you, they're pretty. You might want me to make you a pair."

"I might…" Allie looked at the shoe Hannah was making wistfully. "Yeah. Some green ones."

"Go buy the yarn and I'll make it."

"You mean you're going to make _me_ pay for the yarn?" Allie asked incredulously. "What kind of sick twisted person are you?"

"My services don't come cheap, my friend. I have to make it through college _somehow_. I'm paying for myself, remember? Scholarships don't cover everything…"

"Yeah, true enough." Allie nodded. "Okay. So can we watch something else?"

"Um…" Hannah looked at the TV. "No. This is interesting."

By this point in the show, the Mythbusters had proved that a toilet could explode and had moved on to proving that eel skin wallets (which are actually made out of hagfish) could erase the information from a credit card. They attempted to do this by holding handfuls of the slimy fish.

Allie looked slightly green. "Ew. That is…" She gagged. "That's disgusting."

"To you. I think it is a marvel of animal evasive maneuvers." Her point was proved as one of the fish fell onto the floor and wriggled around. No one could seem to get it off the floor, as it produced a slime that proved to not only smell, but look rather mean. And it was slippery.

"That's disgusting." Allie said again. "Ew. I think I'm going to be sick."

"Oh, grow up."

"Hey, now." Allie pouted slightly. "I'm not going to be a math teacher."

"Science." Hannah corrected her.

"Well, whatever the hell you're going to be, I'm not. I shall be a writer and be just like Mrs. Johnson! And she was a whimp. Plus, and you have a stronger stomach than me. So there." Allie stuck her tongue out as she collapsed on the couch. "Gaah. That's disgusting." She repeated one more time. "Okay, fine. If you're not going to change the channel, I'm going to class. I'll be the first one there and people will think I'm a nerd and then all the jocks will run me off campus, and…"

"Allie, you're too athletic. You'd outrun them and then come back here." Hannah winked. "Go. Study. Do well. And throw my stuff in the back of the truck, will you?"

Allie grumbled a reply. A few seconds later, the front door opened and shut.

Hannah turned back to the TV. A few seconds later, she decided that she couldn't bear to be alone in the house, and so she marched to her room, got dressed, and left the house. The weather was frigid (try 13 degrees) so some coffee sounded very nice, especially since the stuff at IHOP earlier that morning had been stale and burned. After a quick Starbucks run, Hannah walked into her Trig class, where two other students, a boy and a girl, were sitting, making goo-goo eyes at each other and completely ignoring their notes. Hannah sat down and commenced studying.

When she left the building three hours later, the first thing she did was run back to Starbucks for more coffee—it tended to go through her system rather quickly these days—and then she headed home. Before she even walked through the door, Allie and Kaylin raced past her and jumped in Kaylin's ancient Chevy truck, which looked weather beaten and rusted beyond all recognition. Three suitcases were sitting in the bed of the truck.

"Shotgun!" Allie cried, jumping in the passenger seat.

"Bobby!" Hannah cried loudly, launching herself into the seat behind Allie. Two years ago the girls had gotten tired of yelling 'seat behind the shotgun' and thus named the seat Bobby. The middle seat was Harold and the seat behind the driver was Penelope.

"No! Don't sit back there." Kaylin giggled. "Sit in the middle."

Hannah shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Make Allie sit in the middle. She's skinnier. I'd just suffocate you both."

"You know, technically we all take up the same space. I mean, it doesn't really matter where we sit because Hannah will suffocate us either way." Allie giggled, obviously pleased with herself for providing evidence that she should not have to sit in the middle, where the only heat choices were pointed at your face, your chest, or your toes, none of which were comfortable.

"Don't you go getting all mathematical on us!" Kaylin warned. "I vote that you sit in the middle."

"I agree." Hannah winked.

Allie grumbled again but complied.

From the car cooler, Hannah took out two sodas and a bottle of water. She passed the water to Kaylin, who was Mormon and did not partake of things of the caffeine variety, and one of the sodas to Allie, who was not Mormon and drank enough caffeine for herself and Kaylin both.

As she buckled herself into the seat, Kaylin sighed and raised her water bottle. "Here's to the best Christmas ever."

Best indeed.

A/N: HA! I FINISHED IT!!! I was supposed to post it like last Sunday night and I definitely got lazy. And now, when I'm supposed to be doing schoolwork, I'm writing this instead. Aren't you all proud of me? I would at this point like to point out that I might make a few Mormon jokes, but only because one of my coauthors is Mormon and we're really poking fun at her. Please do not take offense!

Aaaaaaaaaand… To those of you who read this, here's a spoiler.

Glorfindel frowned. A human, and a woman at that, was fast asleep in the snow just outside of Imladris. From the looks of things, she wouldn't be waking up any time soon. Could this day get any more unusual? With a sigh, he nudged Asfaloth closer to the woman's body. And that was when things got very interesting indeed.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Yes, the author is alive!!! I got stuck doing something for my school and am only now, right before school starts back, getting to a place where I can write. But enough of that. I really am going to write at least twice a month during school. Sorry that I take so long to update!

ZXCVBNM

"Dude, we are so late!" Allie struggled to wheel her massive suitcase over the metal threshold which separated the outside from the inside of the airport.

"I blame Kaylin." Hannah gave Allie's suitcase a nudge and then yanked her own over the threshold. "Gaah. Why do they put these things here? I think it's a scheme. The security guys film girls struggling with their suitcases and then laugh at their weakness."

"Look! Look! TWINS!" Kaylin sighed as she stared at them. The girls stopped and stared along with Kaylin, but the twins moved out of sight through the check in gate. "Oh well. They were cute." Kaylin paused and stood staring, probably hoping to catch another sight of the gorgeous boy twins. When they didn't reappear, she sighed. "So where do we go?"

Allie rolled her eyes, "People are going to think you've never set foot in the airport before, and you've been to this one at least twenty times."

"Kaylin, what were the twin boys doing?" Hannah patiently replied.

Kaylin gave her a blank stare and grinned. "Being gorgeous."

Hannah sighed. "I didn't ask how they looked. I asked what they were _doing_."

"Checking in at the. . .oh. . .I knew that."

"It's no wonder we got lost getting here with her driving." Allie giggled and poked Kaylin on the shoulder.

"I was _not_ lost. You were the navigator. YOU forgot to tell me there was an exit. Besides, I knew exactly where I was. I was making sure you knew, and you obviously didn't."

"Yeah, whatever…"

"I hate to break up this conversation, but we're running really late. Can we please go check in?" Hannah sighed tiredly and pushed her friends toward the check in gate.

ZXCVBNM

"I hate lines like this," Hannah grouched, staring at the line in front of her. It must have been a hundred feet long.

"I know, it's taking forever to move!" Kaylin agreed, peeking around the shoulders of the guy in front of her to see the front of the line. She spotted the holdup and muttered, "Well there's your problem."

"What?" Allie asked.

"Some goth girl up at the front has to take out all of her body piercings," Kaylin muttered.

"Ew, gross! That is so disgusting!" Allie squealed.

"Yeah, who wants to pull a piece of metal out of their belly button? Or their lip? Or their eyebrow? Or their—"

"Can you stop that? Not all of us have a stomach of iron," Hannah pointed out. "I don't want to know everything that girl is pulling out of her body."

"Point taken." Kaylin sighed and plunked down on top of her bag, waiting on the line to move.

Twenty minutes later, they finally reached the metal detector. The girls loaded their backpacks, purses, loose change, shoes, laptops and anything which could conceivably set the darn thing off onto the X-ray machine and stepped through the metal detector. Hannah and Kaylin made it through without a glitch. Allie, however, was a different story.

As she walked through the metal detector, it gave a shrill beep. Irked, Allie backed up to try again, with no luck. The machine emitted another shrill beep, at which point the security guard standing in front of Allie waved her over to an x taped on the floor. Allie mentally went over what she had on her person which could set off the metal detector. She'd taken all of her change out of her pockets before she went through. She had never had a joint replaced, and she had no body piercings. That left her clothes. The machine wasn't sensitive enough to go off over the button on her shirt or jeans or the snap on her bra. Her shoes had also gone through the x ray machine, which left…

As soon as Allie realized the problem, so did the guard wielding the metal detector wand. Allie stood on her X, cheeks a brilliant crimson, as the guard waved the wand over her butt. It emitted a shrill beep, and as Kaylin and Hannah looked on in glee, the guard loudly spoke into her radio "Yeah, Fred, this is Mina. We got a case of metal underwear here, where do you want me to send her?"

Fred's voice came back through the radio a few seconds later. "Check her there, we're full."

Mina looked at Allie, face straight, as though she did this sort of thing on a daily basis. With the quacks that go through airport security, thought Allie, that wasn't an unlikely possibility. "You heard the man." Mina said flatly.

Allie's face turned an even deeper shade of crimson as she reached for the safety pin that held her thong together. She yanked it above the waistband on her jeans and showed it to Mina, who waved the wand over it once. When it beeped again, Mina handed Allie all her things from the x-ray machine and waved her away.

Allie, fuming, stormed to the corner where Kaylin and Hannah were laughing hysterically and began putting on her shoes. "Dude! I can't believe I set off the metal detector because of my underwear! Don't you dare tell anyone. And I mean _anyone_!" Allie said as they waited on her to tie her shoes.

"Don't worry. I got pictures, so we won't have to tell anyone." Kaylin said proudly holding up her phone. "Camera phones come in handy sometimes."

"Now who do we send them to, Hannah?"

"Josh, George, Harry, Ben, Michael, Chris, Jacob, Andr-" Allie cut Hannah short as she practically leapt, or tried to, over Hannah to get to Kaylin's phone.

"I swear if you don't delete that picture I will. . ."

Allie glared at Hannah and Kaylin, who were laughing hysterically, wondering just what on earth she had missed. In between gasps, Hannah choked out, "Kaylin doesn't have a camera phone, idiot!"

"Oh yeah, I knew that…" Allie grinned sheepishly at her cousins.

ZXCVBNM

The three tried to make it to the airplane with the least amount of embarrassment possible, which was quite difficult considering every few feet someone would recognize Allie as the Girl with the Metal Thong who had Held Up the Line. Hannah and Kaylin just laughed of course, which made Allie even more annoyed. It wasn't her fault that the only pair of underwear she hadn't packed was a thong that had to be held together with a safety pin!

Actually, that wasn't the truth, all things considered. If she joined the annual Victoria's Secret shopping spree like the rest of the girls at her college, she would have a lot more nice underwear and a lot less that had to be held together with safety pins.

While the girls waited at the gate for their plane to land, Hannah ran to get some Starbucks for Allie and herself. Allie drank a Caramel Macchiato with lots of whipped cream. Hannah, who had already filled her daily coffee quota, partook of a hot chocolate instead.

When she returned, she found Kaylin and Allie giggling furiously at a man who was asleep in the chair next to Allie. His head was leaned on her shoulder, and he was snoring very loudly.

"When did he get here?" Hannah asked in a loud whisper. "I don't remember seeing him when I left."

Allie slowly stopped giggling enough to squeak out, "He came right after you left. And then he just…" She was giggling too hard to continue. Allie was _not_ having a good day, and having a stranger fall asleep on her and breathe all over her was not making it any better! And his breath smelled like onions!

Because Kaylin and Allie were giggling too much to be of any further use, Hannah cleared her throat loudly and tapped the man on the shoulder. He kept on snoring. She tapped him again. He mumbled something in his sleep but, unfortunately, did not wake up. Hannah, out of options, shook the poor man awake and stared at him as if to say, "Yo, you're in my seat." He got up and left, cheeks a brilliant red.

When the girls finally found their seats on the plane, a very frustrated Allie exclaimed, "Dude, you're in my window seat! Move over!"

"Dude, no, dude, I was here first, dude, so why don't you just seat in the aisle seat, dude, okay, dude?" Kaylin shot back.

"What the heck are you talking about?"

"You say 'dude' WAY too much, Allie."

"No I don't!" Allie exclaimed indignantly. "I hardly say it at all! I don't know what you guys are talking about."

"Whatever, you could at least call us dudette cuz dude is for guys and we are definitely not guys, especially because we, or at least you, wear thongs," Hannah said rolling her eyes.

"Men can wear thongs." Allie pointed out.

"Only gay ones wear thongs, and then they're girly enough to be called girls. So back to the original point—only girls wear thongs."

"Ya know what?" Kaylin asked.

"What?" Hannah said, exasperation heavy in her voice.

"If anyone listened to us they would think we hate each other and are drunk."

"But that's the fun part!" Allie chimed in. "Hey. I think that Kaylin would be a very happy drunk. And I bet she can't hold her liquor at all, either."

Kaylin looked appalled, but Hannah laughed. "I think I'd be a really happy drunk, too.

"I think I'd either be a crazy, wild drunk or a really emotional drunk," Allie considered, deep in thought over where they could obtain the highly illegal beer. There were only two more months until she was legal…

"We should experiment sometime!" Hannah exclaimed.

"No we should NOT!" Kaylin cried. "We will not go get drunk just to see what we are like when we are drunk. We wouldn't remember anyways!"

"But I'm sure someone could take pictures of us with Kaylin's fake camera phone so we could see ourselves," Hannah grinned. Allie glared at her, then settled back into the chair and closed her eyes. It had been an incredibly long day. At least it was almost over…

ZXCVBNM

"Finally!" Allie exclaimed as the trio dragged their suitcases into Hannah's (tiny) room. When standing, one could place one's back on Hannah's bed, her feet on one wall and her hands on the other. There really wasn't enough room for one person, let alone three.

Which explained why Hannah owned a bunk bed.

It was nice, really. As kids the girls would climb onto the top bunk and drape blankets over the sides until they created a nice dark fort in which to play Barbies. They would steal Hannah's dad's work light to light the inside of the fort, until the day they left it on for long enough for it to melt the polyester blanket. From then on, they were banned from using the light.

"Dibs!" Allie cried, flinging her purse and carry-on bag onto the top bunk and then flinging herself onto it.

"Dibs on the other!" Kaylin yelled diving for the bottom bunk, landing, and sprawling over it.

"How is this fair?" Hannah asked as she put her hands on her hips, "This is my room. Therefore, I should get a bed."

"Well ya see Banana, that's not quite right," Kaylin replied, "Either way you look at it you end up on the floor. The first way is calling rights, and you obviously lost that fair and square. Of course, on the other hand, we are the guests so we should be accommodated to the best of your abilities, and we are with the present arrangements."

Hannah rolled her eyes, "Ok, you two really do not count as guests. You're over here too much to be guests. You're more like family who's only here half the time."

"Aw, that's so sweet," Allie smiled. "But you are still not getting this bed, no matter what you say. Besides, you had it last time. We have to rotate."

"Rotate, my butt! The two of you were both on the bunk last time. So one of you should be on the floor!"

"I can't sleep on the floor because it'll mess up my neck and my back," Kaylin insisted.

Allie snorted. "It will not. You'll be fine for a couple days. It won't kill you."

"Well, then you guys'll feel pretty bad at my funeral when I don't leave you anything in my will," Kaylin said indignantly.

"I've already got dibs on your CDs, dude. You can't renege on that!"

"And why not? It's _my_ will! I'll leave my stuff to whoever I want!"

"Well, then you're not getting any of my stuff either!"

As Allie and Kaylin continued to bicker over who would be left what in each other's wills, Hannah inconspicuously sneaked Allie's stuff off the top bunk and climbed up to claim it for herself.

"Ha!" She loudly announced, plopping back and covering up with the folded blanket at the bottom of the bed. "I win."

Allie's little sister, Callie, who was seven, came into the room with a naked Barbie in one hand and a cup of apple juice in the other. The girls ignored her and began to unpack their suitcases into Hannah's huge chest of drawers.

As Kaylin pulled a bra from her suitcase and flung it across the room to the pile of clothes the girls were taking into the woods, Callie giggled. "You have big boobies!" The little girl giggled again, trying the bra on for size.

Kaylin, blushing, tried to snatch the bra away, but to no avail. She grinned maliciously, then pointed to Hannah. "Hers are bigger than mine, You should go steal her bras."

"Okay," the little girl said happily, going over to Hannah's suitcase. "Can I have that purple one please?"

"Umm. . .how bout you go see if dinner is ready, instead?"

Callie frowned. "No way. I want to see your bra! Kaylin says your boobies are bigger."

"What is it with us and boobs today? First the conversation at IHOP and now this!" Hannah groaned, looking at Allie for support.

Allie took pity on Hannah, "Scram sis. We're trying to unpack." She said flatly, pointing toward the door.

"Fine! But I'm telling Mommy!" Callie stormed out of the room, still wearing Kaylin's bra.

"Great. Now your uncles get to see my underwear." Kaylin mumbled, frowning at the floor. "I can't believe she actually tried it on."

"She is my sister."

"Yeah, what's up with her and boobs anyways?"

"My mom just got a boob job, and Callie is obsessed with them now. She can't wait until she gets a bra."

"Heather didn't have to wear one until this year. She just turned thirteen." Kaylin giggled, thinking of her own sister who was somewhere in the house, probably watching all the little kids.

It was at this point that the girls realized that Hannah had moved Allie away from her bed.

"Dude, that's not fair! I was there first!" Allie whined. "And I got my sister to leave your underwear alone!"

"Yeah, whatever. I still claim this bed." Hannah grinned maliciously and reclined on her pillow. It felt so good to be back in her bed.

"No way, man. I was there first. I'm claiming that bed back or else."

"Oh yeah? Or else what?"

"I'll call Callie back in here and give her _all _of your bras!" Allie laughed evilly.

"Hey, you know what I just remembered?" Hannah asked, winking at the girls.

"What?"

"I have an air mattress. I don't have to sleep on the floor."

"Good for you. I'm still sleeping on your bed." Kaylin said, claiming the bottom bunk once again.

"Yep. Me too." Allie grinned. "Now move my stuff back."

"Enjoy it while you can. It's cold in the woods and we aren't allowed to take anything modern." Hannah grinned.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Kaylin mumbled. "I still wish we could take a laptop, though."

"Kaylin, what would you do with a laptop in the middle of the woods?"

"Read fanfiction." Kaylin said simply. "There are so many stories I've fallen behind on because of those stupid finals. I can't wait to get back on them."

"Kaylin, the closest internet hub is going to be four miles away!"

"But… it's _wireless_ internet." Kaylin was beginning to realize that her dreams of reading fanfiction in the middle of the woods in ten degree weather were crushed.

Allie and Hannah just laughed. "Oh, bless the poor simpleton, for she doth not know the workings of the internet." Hannah said sadly, winking at her cousin. "It will all be okay. After we get out of the woods we'll be able to read all the fanfiction we can handle."

"Yay!" Kaylin cried in joy.

Heather, Kaylin's younger sister, came into the room with about twelve other kids following behind her. "It's time for that stupid family portrait." She grumbled, then turned and left without another word.

"Here's to another Christmas!" Allie grinned and donned the Santa hat she had been given when she walked into the house.

"Another Christmas." Hannah and Kaylin chorused.

A/N: So it took me another three weeks to finish writing this after I started. It usually takes me about three days. But I'm starting to get some semblance of a schedule going, between work and theatre and dance and more work and now volunteering. I don't promise an update every week, like I've done in the past, but I do promise one at least every two weeks or else I give you all permission to toast me like a marshmallow. I love you all! Have fun REVIEWING this story!!!

Reviewreviewreviewreviewreviewreviewreviewreview

Cassie


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: So I have an idea but I need some help figuring out the plot of this story. It will be a Boromir fic, because I love Boromir to death. Anyways. So would it be against everything you know and love if I managed to save him? Somehow I would make things work out the same or close to the same in the end, and if you say I should kill him off anyways, then I'll do it because I have another idea that you won't hear about until later because if I told you now there would be no point in writing the story. Anyways, think on it for a few chapters and let me know what you think.

"Oh boy. Another white Christmas." Kaylin grouched from where she lay on Hannah's bunk bed. Snow was piling up outside with a fury, and unless some of it melted very soon, The Trek was in jeopardy.

"Hey, I wonder which pile of snow is the rental car?" Allie asked, gazing out the window. There were seven large piles of snow parked outside.

"I don't know. Didn't we park next to Mike and Donna?"

"Maybe." Hannah sighed. "I am ready to get out of here. I can't wait for The Trek."

"I still want to read my fanfics." Kaylin muttered. "I'm going to kill Lilley if she kills Legolas."

"Yeah, he's too cute to kill off." Hannah grinned. Anyone who knew anything about Hannah knew that she was, and had been, madly in love with Legolas since she first laid eyes on him at Kristin Nichols' house in the eighth grade. That had been seven years ago, and her passion had only grown with each second, until she was sure that she would burst from the Sue-ness of it all.

"You nerd. Everyone knows that Aragorn is much hotter." Allie winked at her cousin, just like she always did. 

"Yeah, well, I guess we'll just have to disagree. Again." Hannah said, just like _she_ always did. "Even if you know that I'm right."

"You aren't right. You are far from right. I am always right about everything."

"You wish you were ever right about everything. And my boobs are bigger."

"How in the world does having bigger boobs make you right about anything?"

"Shut up, you loser. It just does. Don't question the Hannah logic!"

"Hannah Illogic, you mean."

"Wow, Allie, that was really corny." Kaylin laughed.

"Hey, I resent that!" Allie grumbled. 

"Resemble it, you mean." Kaylin grinned.

When Allie pouted, Kaylin crossed her arms. "Aww, come on. You know I love you."

"And you'd better love me, or else I'll give you poison ivy to wipe with instead of plain leaves!" Allie smiled. "Or poison oak, or some other poison something. You'll have backside herpes."

"What, like you?" Kaylin shot back.

"Nope. Like Hannah."

Hannah, who was absorbed in Kaylin's book about cute boys who trained to slay evil dragons and rode winged unicorns, jerked her head up at the sound of her name. "Wha…?" 

"You have backside herpes now."

"Hey, my backside is perfectly fine. Yours is the herpes one."

"You wish."

"Hey." Kaylin interrupted

"Is for horses." Allie calmly informed Kaylin.

"Yes, I know that, oh brilliant one. I said hey, as in H-E-Y."

"Okay, well, H-E-Y what?"

"H-E-Y comma S-H-O-U-L-D—"

"Jeez, Kaylin, chill out. I was kidding."

Kaylin grinned. "You know I love you. Shouldn't we start packing for The Trek?"

Allie rolled her eyes. "Why would we do that?"

"So that we can be ready to leave first thing in the morning tomorrow?"

"And we would do that because…?"

"Because that way we have two hours to get out there, and the rest of the day to set up, get a fire going, pitch the tent, and get warm. And make lunch."

The Trek was a cross between Lord of the Ringsing and Pioneering. The only modern things allowed were a tent and some sleeping bags, and that was only so they no one froze to death—it was the middle of winter in Wyoming, after all. Everything else they either had to make or catch, including fire and food. They got fire from a striker that was Allie's brother's, who the girls called Amazing Nature Boy because of the sheer amount of time he spent in the woods with his little animal friends. Allie laughed when Kaylin told her that Trent was like the woodsman in a fairy tale.

"Hm." Hannah made a noise at the window. "I don't know if we're going to get to go. If some of that stuff doesn't melt, we'll have a hard time getting the tent to stay put."

"We could make an igloo!" Kaylin giggled, and then her face turned serious. "I guess we'll have to bring a shovel."

Allie rolled her eyes, then grabbed a duffel bag and threw some warm clothes in it.

ZXCVBNM

"I am _so_ glad it quit snowing." Allie forced her way through a hip deep snow drift.. The snow had stopped the night before, and although none of it had melted yet, no more was falling. It was knee deep in places, which meant trudging through the wet stuff until your legs were frozen from being wet and cold. Allie's jeans were frozen solid. Hannah and Kaylin had been smart enough to wear waterproof pants, so they were nice and toasty. Well, Kaylin was, at least. Hannah had been smart and left her coat at home, opting for a jacket, and so she was a bit of a Hannahsickle.

"Ditto." Hannah trudged through the knee deep snow. Her backpack must have weighed fifteen pounds, and the sleeping bag she was carrying was no bundle of feathers. At least Kaylin had tent duty for this leg of the hike.

"Yep yep yep." Kaylin sighed. "How much longer until we get there?"

Allie shrugged. "Who knows? Once the markings stop, we stop."

Trent had used this clearing to hunt in more than once, and the only way he could find his way to and from the house was by carving notches in trees along the way. Every ten feet or so there would be a mark, and once the marks stopped, he knew he was in the right place. When Trent grew up and left his furry animal friends for real people with two legs, Allie took over the trail.

The girls trudged on in silence for what seemed like an eternity to Kaylin. Finally they saw the clearing ahead, and Kaylin sprinted the fifty feet to the campsite. She dropped the tent in the snow and collapsed on top of it, grinning. "HOME!" She sang, and then proceeded to drop into the snow and make a snow angel.

Hannah and Allie were somewhat more reserved in their reactions. Allie flung her bag into the snow and unzipped the tent bag, then stared at it. "Crap. I forgot how to set it up." The tent was, of course, Trent's. He was usually the person in charge of setting the damned thing up when Allie went camping with her family, and now that she was using it she had absolutely no idea how it worked.

Kaylin whined. "I'm going to freeze to death if you don't put it together soon!"

"Save the dramatics." Hannah grinned. "You can just crawl into your sleeping bag and get all warm and toasty, while we do the dirty work. But that's okay, cuz we love you and you get to hike back to the house for anything we forgot."

_That_ got Kaylin moving. _Of course_, Hannah thought, but she didn't say anything.

With the tent finally assembled, the only thing left to do was make a real camp. Sleeping bags and duffel bags went inside the rather spacious twelve man tent. Uncle Mike had scoffed when he saw the tent assembled in the backyard, but as Hannah reminded him, the rules only stated that the tent had to be modern. They didn't say anything about size limitations.

"The thing's like a palace," he'd argued, but Hannah just ignored him and instead sprayed water on the outside to make sure it was waterproof. Melting snow falling on top of you in the middle of the night was not a good thing.

So now, with the palace of a tent assembled, Allie started a fire. She set the wood on top of the snow, pointed the striker at it, and made a rather nice fire.

"Okay." Kaylin looked out over the snow. "Now what?"

"Um… Dinner." Hannah looked at Allie. "You remember how to set a trap, right?"

"Dur." Allie produced some string from her bag, and motioned for Hannah to follow her. Kaylin stayed with the tent. Hannah pretended to watch while Allie did some really complicated things with several bendy plants and her string. There were lots of loops and knots and a twist, and then a stake in the ground, and when it was all done, Allie poked one with a stick. The thing snapped and twisted around the stick, and Hannah hated to think what it would do to a cute little Thumper bunny. But hey, if Thumper felt like being her dinner, who was she to argue?

The traps set, Allie and Hannah trudged back to camp, where Kaylin was indeed wrapped up in her sleeping bag, sitting on a log next to the fire. She looked cozy, and Allie copied her. Then she made S'mores and waited for a trap to snare a rabbit. Or a squirrel. Her stomach growled, and she couldn't help but hope that she had remembered to set the traps right.

ZXCVBNM

"Kaylin, I'm really hungry." Hannah whined. Allie's traps had been a colossal failure, and the girls were now eating green leafies. Allie jokingly called it the twigs and berries diet.

"Me too. Maybe if Allie learned to set a trap right…"

"How was I supposed to know you can't wrap the string around the bendy tree twice? Jeez. And it's not like you helped any."

"Peace and love, girls!" Hannah interrupted. "Whatever. I vote that we break the rules and go the house for edibles."

"Yep."

"Me too."

"Okay, then, I also vote that Kaylin goes." Hannah added, and Kaylin frowned.

"Heck no!" She glared at Hannah. "Why do _I_ have to go?"

"Because Allie set the traps, and I went with her."

"And you both did it wrong. You made us not have food tonight, so you can go get it."

"Nope." Allie settled back on her log. "I think I'll just sit here until one of you decides to feed us."

"It's an hour back to the house. That's two hours before we can eat." Kaylin whined. "And why do I have to go?"

"Because you didn't set the trap. And we said so."

"Well, I'm not going." Kaylin stared at the fire for several minutes before her stomach gave a loud grumble. She heaved a dramatic sigh, then stood. "Fine, your majesties. I'll go get you some darn food."

"Thank you, Kaylin. We love you."

"Yeah, yeah…" Kaylin grumbled. She grabbed her canteen and left the camp in a huff.

ZXCVBNM

Three hours later, Kaylin had not returned. Hannah was worried. It wasn't unlike Kaylin to stay and visit for a minute, but an hour? And snow had started falling an hour after she left, making the return journey dangerous. What if she was lost somewhere?

"At least she has food now." Allie pointed out when Hannah voiced her concerns. Hannah shrugged, momentarily appeased, until the snow was falling so thick that it had become hard to see.

"Look. We need to go find her." She said, standing up and looking for her flashlight. It was getting close to dark, Kaylin wasn't back yet, it was snowing, she was cold, and she hated to think of her friend alone in the woods in the dark. Especially considering Kaylin was usually afraid of her own shadow, and she would be terrified in the dark.

"Chillax, dude. She'll be fine."

"I don't think so, Allie." Hannah looked into the thick woods. "She isn't back yet, and it's been three and a half hours. What if she got hurt? What if she lost the trail? What if—"

"Fine. I'll go look for her. But you have to come with me." Allie grumbled.

"Who, me? I'm afraid of the dark. I would much rather come with you than be left here to die, thank you very much." Hannah replied indignantly. Allie grabbed a flashlight, and the two left.

They split up, out of sight but never out of hearing distance. Allie searched on one side of the trail, Hannah on the other, and they kept up a conversation and tried not to worry too much about Kaylin. She didn't usually get lost, but then again, she _was_ a little air headed. Maybe she was just trying to make them worry in return for having to go get dinner. All Allie knew was that it was dark and cold and if Kaylin didn't show up soon she was going to wring her neck for making them worry. Maybe make her dig her own grave and kill her.

She listened, and realized she could no longer hear Hannah.

Allie cleared the snow from a rock and sat down to think. If Hannah had wandered off, Allie was going to make her dig her own grave, too.

Worried that Hannah still wasn't responding to Allie's shrieks, she turned back to find the tent. The trail was gone, and she was standing in the middle of a clearing with a lot of green tents in it. That was the last thing she saw before someone whacked her across the back of the head with something that must have been the world's hardest cast iron pot. She literally saw stars for a second before her eyes rolled up in her head and she collapsed.

ZXCVBNM

"So I told him I didn't think we should fog up his windows on the first date, and he looked at me like I had three heads. I swear, it was the weirdest thing in the world. So I went home." Hannah finished her story and waited on Allie's reply.

It never came.

Worried, Hannah called out, and there was no reply. Hannah yelled, and there was no reply.

Now she was really worried. She turned around to find the trail and realized that not only could she not hear or see anyone, the trail was long gone.

She turned back around, just as the branch above her head cracked from the weight of the snow, then broke free of the tree and crashed into her.

Hannah's arm screamed at her, and then she passed out from the pain.

ZXCVBNM

Kaylin trudged through the snow. _Of course I had to be picked. Why couldn't I go help set up traps? I'm just brilliant like that. Now I'm wandering around in the snow, cold and lost, and where the heck is Allie's house? I should have reached it by now. You know what, It's getting _really_ cold outside. And I'm really bored. How long can it take to walk two miles!? One hundred bottles of beer on the wall…_ Kaylin reached a clearing and looked around in confusion. _There was so never a clearing this big Allie's woods. We so would have used this one before. That's it. I'm lost in freaky woods in the middle of the wilderness, in Wyoming, no less, where there are things like bears and mountain lions. . .oh crap. Bears and mountain lions eat people!!! _ Kaylin sat down to think for a minute then glanced up at the clouds. _Oh crud. . .oh double triple fudge crud. It's going to snow. Like… hard. I am so in trouble!!! _Kaylin allowed herself a few moments to get all the hyperventilating out of her system before collecting herself and forcing rational thoughts into her brain. _ Now. What am I supposed to do when lost? Oh right. Sit here and wait, bemoaning my predicament, get warm, and randomly call out for help. Sounds boring…really boring._

Kaylin didn't really want to sit down and bemoan her predicament, so she got to work creating a sort of wall of snow. Well, it was supposed an igloo, but it kept falling down. She then sat down next to it to wait for Hannah and Allie, or Trent, in the worst case, to come rescue her. _I'm really, really, REALLY tired. Surely it won't hurt if I take a quick nap. . . just to catch up on sleep. . . ._ Kaylin curled up by the half wall as the falling snow began to lightly cover her.

ZXCVBNM

So I finished this the night after Hubert, my dearly beloved computer, decided that he didn't like being plugged into the wall and bent his prong thing in the back that you plug Inez the power cord into—well, Hubert bent his prong and I couldn't get Inez on it, and so I had to pry it back with a screwdriver, and now Hubert is even more tempermental than usual, although functional. I don't have any money, but when I do I'll get the darned thing fixed. Unless Hubert and Inez want to start behaving.

Anyways. Now that that's done, this chapter is a little shorter than the other two, and it probably sucks because I wrote it when I was still Gladys Herdman and very short on sleep. I finished it at the Marathon last night when I was high off of lemon skittles and Sunkist (I have a thing for fruit flavors) so if parts don't make sense… Hey, don't sue me. I'm just the author.

Anyways. Please review. I got like one review for the last chapter and I know it deserved more than that.

I love all of you!!!

Cassie


	4. Authors Note

-1Hey guys.

Okay, so Cassie finally replaced Hubert the old and decrepit computer with Leslie the young, bright, and youthful computer. As in, she just came in tonight. And all my old files, like, oh, I don't know, the plot for this story, and the next chapter, and lots of important things, are still on Hubert. Seeing as I don't know the first thing about computers, Dad is going to fix it up for me tomorrow night. YAY! Anyways. Until now I didn't even have a way to get this note to you, so whatever. Lol my brother is suffering from a severe case of computer envy.

Right. I'll get the next chapter up in about a week or so. Maybe. Anyways, love you guys. Don't forget about me!


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